1. Field of the Invention
Preferred embodiments provide a method, system, and program for editing text and, in particular, improving the composition and form of text.
2. Description of the Related Art
One challenge writers face when composing a document or text is to avoid repetitive use of key words and phrases. Writers can improve the flow of their composition by editing a document to replace frequently repeated words or phrases with different words or phrases that convey the same thought. In fact, H. W. Fowler's famous work on English composition “The Kings English”, 2nd ed. (1908) cautions that                Vivid writers must be careful not to repeat any conspicuous phrase so soon that a reader of ordinary memory has not had time to forget it before it invites his attention again. Whatever its merits, to use it twice (unless deliberately and with point) is much worse than never to have thought of it.The Kings English Ch. II, Part 60.        
Below is an example of a passage that repeats a key term:                In many ways our shoes can talk. But not with their tongues. By their size they show how big we are. By their make and style they show who we are; that is, they show our status, our occupation, what we see in ourselves, and how we want others to see us.        
The writer would recognize that in the above passage the word “show” is repeated. To improve the flow and composition of the passage, the writer would edit the passage by replacing repeated instances of “show” with different words that convey the same meaning. For instance, the edited passage that replaces repeated instances of “show” could read:                In many ways our shoes can talk. But not with their tongues. By their size they tell how big we are. By their make and style they reveal who we are; that is, they show our status, our occupation, what we see in ourselves, and how we want others to see us.        
Current word processing programs allow writers to check and correct spelling mistakes and the grammar of the passage. Further, prior art word processing programs typically include a thesaurus associating synonyms with words. Word processing programs typically display a dialog box in which the user enters a term and selects a push button to cause the thesaurus program to access synonyms associated with the entered term. Thus, with current word processing art, a user could remove repeated words by manually editing the text, using a mouse or other pointing device to position the cursor to repeated instances of terms in the text, and then invoking the thesaurus dialog to find synonymous terms to substitute for the repeated term using a computer input device such as a mouse.
There is a need in the art for an improved technique for allowing users to determine and select alternate words and phrases when editing or creating a document to improve composition so that a reader of ordinary memory has had enough time to forget a key term or phrase before reading it again.